Goldman: Gun law misconstrued

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The headline of the March 21 article on the new Colorado gun legislation read: "Summit County sheriff calls new gun law 'unenforceable.' " Either the reporter misconstrued the sheriff's remarks or the sheriff has misconstrued the new law.

The state adopted several new regulations on gun possession, sale and transfer. One of those laws, House Bill 13-1224, deals with high-capacity magazines. The sheriff's quoted observation regarding markings on magazines applies solely to the enforceability of the new restriction on possession of high-capacity magazines, not the rest of the new gun laws or even the rest of HR 13-1224.

HR 13-1224 grandfathers possession of high-capacity magazines that are older than the effective date of the new law. Enforcement of that provision will be difficult, though not always impossible, if the magazine in question has no markings revealing when it was manufactured. However, there should be no comparable difficulty in enforcing the rest of HR 13-1224, which prohibits the sale or transfer of such magazines regardless of when they were manufactured or came into the possession of the persons involved in that transfer or sale.